Boulder to submit new floodplain map to FEMA

Boulder will submit a new floodplain map to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that is expected to reduce flood insurance rates for many residents and businesses.

The Boulder City Council authorized city officials to submit the map to federal authorities at its meeting Tuesday night.

City planners will start taking the new floodplain boundaries into account in their regulations so that new buildings aren't approved without the necessary flood mitigation. However, it could take six months to a year for FEMA to approve the new maps.

The new Boulder Creek floodplain maps remove 106 buildings from the 100-year floodplain and add 72 buildings. Another 574 buildings saw no change. Twenty-six properties will be removed from the city's "high-hazard" zone, where there is the greatest risk of loss of life in a major flood, and 21 properties will be put into it.

Several property owners expressed concern to the City Council about city policies around the high-hazard zone, including the conditions under which they could rebuild and the rate at which they would be reimbursed.

Because the assumption is that property owners would have flood insurance, the city would only buy flood-damaged property for its post-flood appraised price, not for its pre-flood value.

And if more than 50 percent of a property in the high-hazard zone were destroyed, that building could not be rebuilt in the zone.

City Council members said they would like to take another look at the high-hazard zone policies in the future, but they said there was no reason to hold up approval of the new floodplain maps.

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The city is also considering new regulations in the future for facilities that serve vulnerable populations and are located in the 500-year floodplain.

Completion of the mapping project would improve Boulder's rating for flood insurance purposes and result in decreased flood insurance rates.

The City Council also unanimously approved the policy review associated with the Transportation Master Plan update, which includes identifying more funding for transportation projects and making more progress on reducing car use. That includes investigating the feasibility of a communitywide EcoPass program to encourage more people to ride the bus.

Councilwoman Suzy Ageton cautioned against "raising expectations" that communitywide EcoPass would definitely happen. Some council members have questioned whether the city could afford it or whether it would generate a large enough increase in transit use to justify the cost, though other council members have expressed strong support for the idea.

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